Contemporary Literature [pp. 541-573]

5J6 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. LJuly,
By Theodore Christlieb, D.D. Translated, with the author's sanction, chiefly
by the Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, Ph. D., and edited by the Rev. T. L. Kings bury, M.A.
The paper read by the author on the subject treated in this volume before
the Evangelical Alliance in New York electrified that vast assembly as no
other did, and was universally conceded to be primius inztertares of all the:
admirable productions there delivered. It presented as much of the very
quintessence of this grand volume as could be compressed within a twentieth
of the space, yet so, that with all the disadvantage of speaking out of his ver nacular to those who knew it not, it was perfectly understood by and borne
with a constant thrill through the heart of a vast assembly of the learned and
unlearned. Its repetition in greater fulness was demanded and obtained. It
has been widely disseminated by the press throughout the land. Few who,
had the foretaste thus furnished, will fail to obtain for themselves the full re past here offered in the complete unfolding of the whole issue between Modern
Doubt and Belief. There are few questions pertaining to it which the author
does not touch and with a master's hand.
What gives the work its special value, as also its power and fascination, is
the marvellous combination of learning, logic, philosophy, clear and comnprehensive insight, poetic beauty, fire and eloquence, which at once seize the
cardinal issues, and pour upon them an overpowering flood of light, often
condensed into a focal brightness, in some proverb or aphorism which at once
ends all dispute by its own self-evidencing power. Examples ot this kinid
display themselves almost ad aherturam libri.
But what vastly heightens this effect, and is always implicated with it, is
that Christlieb constantly brings into play the practical, emotional and moral
element of our nature, in settling the questions he handles. These appeals
constantly welling up from the depths of his own moral and religious feeling,
interpenetrate all his arguments, and convey them with redoubled power to
the minds he addresses. A great secret of his strength is, that while eminently logical, he does not suffer his reasonings to degenerate into mere logical fencing or dry and jejune contests of ingenuity, in word-fights or mere
sharpness of wit. He pervades all with this moral and religious element,
which is so fitted to make its way to the heart and conscience. What he says
of the moral element in miracles has a strong application to his own book,
making all allowance for the difference between the highest work of man and
any direct work of God.
"This confirms to us what we have already hinted to be the true distinguishintg mark of geenuine miracles from those which are either fictitious
and apocryphal, or demoniacal. The divine origin of any miracle is apparent, not so much from the extraordinary power manifested in it, as from its
moral and religious character, -from the spiritual force and moral truth which
are reflected in it and promoted by it. Truly divine miracles appeal not
merely to our logical faculty, but to our moral judgment, to our recognition
of the divine aid, its supra-mundane character, to our transcendental knowledge, not to our physical acquaintance with the forces of nature. Therefore